My guest Clara Mattei has written about austerity’s dark intellectual origins in her important new book The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way for Fascism. We discuss the main ideas of this book and how the historical roots of austerity emerge as a response by the ruling class to the social democratic gains of the working class following the First World War in Europe. At the core of Dr. Mattei's book is a powerful lesson for the left, namely that conditions of eco...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 122
My guest Sudip Bhattacharya studies and organizes the working class in New Jersey and he joins me to discuss the findings of his work. We explore some practical strategies for organizing the working class, the future of socialist politics and ways to overcome some of the main limitations to class politics in our time. This conversation is inspired by a new essay Sudip wrote for The Hampton Reader. Check out the book published with Iskra Press Sudip Bhattacharya is a doctoral candidate in Politic...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 121
I am joined by Marxist historian Ian Szabo to discuss the revival of Karl Kautsky's revolutionary thought among contemporary Marxists. We discuss a recent article on Kautsky's theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and we address the predominant misreadings and misinterpretations that exist about Kautsky, and how his thought speaks to our present. Read Ian Szabo's article "The Adolescence of a Concept: Dictatorship of the Proletariat in Karl Kautsky’s Revolutionary Writings ( https://bit...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 120
Welcome to The Archimedean Point, a new series on the current political situation from a Marxist perspective. In our second episode, Daniel Tutt and Conrad Hamilton discuss the inadequacies of left-liberal accounts of racism and bigotry and why only a Marxist analysis can address the ideology of the far right. We also discuss new work by Daniel on Michel Clouscard and his book Neo-Fascism and the Ideology of Desire and Conrad's new essay in the book After Speculative Realism. Episode One of The ...
Jun 10, 2025•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 119
Welcome to a special crossover podcast discussion on Michael Mann's first major feature film Thief (1981). While Michael Mann is best known for films like HEAT and Last of the Mohicans, Thief is by far his most political film. The film explores themes of labor, exploitation, class and the inner lives of criminals and convicts. We discuss the Marxist and Freudian undertones in this great masterpiece of cinema. This conversation is hosted by Mtume Gant, filmmaker, professor and host of Within Our ...
Jun 09, 2025•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 118
I am joined by K. Daniel Cho to discuss his provocative new book Genius After Psychoanalysis: Freud and Lacan which argues that genius is not exceptional talent or intelligence but is related to and illuminated by the psychological concept of sublimation. Beginning with a close examination of Freud's work on Leonardo da Vinci, Cho analyzes film, art, our relationship to nature, politics, group psychology, love, and philosophy to demonstrate that genius, far from an elitist notion, is universally...
May 03, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 117
My guest is Dr. Immanuel Ness, one of the foremost scholars of contemporary imperialism, workers’ social organization, Global South political economy, socialism and migration. We discuss the concept of economic imperialism in today's time and how the theory of imperialism has changed since the time of Lenin. We also discuss the theory of the labor aristocracy in Marxist thought, whether China is truly a socialist country and the status of working class struggles in China compared to America. Imm...
May 03, 2025•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 117
I am joined by the philosopher Mladen Dolar, one of the most important Lacanian philosophers working today. A founder of the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis, Mladen Dolar has written important works on Hegel, Marx and numerous works on Lacanian thought. In this podcast, we discuss his experience studying with Lacan in Paris and the legacy of the 1960s on today's politics. We then turn to a discussion of Dolar's new book Rumors, a philosophical essay on the persistent problem of rumors from th...
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 116
I am joined by political theorist Jodi Dean to discuss her provocative new book Capital's Grave: Neofeudalism and the New Class Struggle. Jodi Dean is one of the most vocal proponents of the "neofeudal thesis", the idea that capitalism has regressed to a neofeudal arrangement characterized by the delinking of capitalist accumulation from production, the end of competition, rent-seeking, predation and plunder. No longer can Marxists rely on a developmentalist theory of capitalism and a proletaria...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 115
My guest Russell Jacoby is credited with coining the concept "public intellectual." He has written extensively on socialism in America, western Marxism and Freudian Marxism. We begin with a discussion of his criticism of Domenico Losurdo's recently translated work Western Marxism, we then discuss his recent Jacobin article "American Marxism Got Lost on Campus", the work of Christopher Lasch (Jacoby's Ph.D. advisor) and how Marxism can become "plain" again. Jacoby offers advice for Marxist schola...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 114
We welcome socialist thinker and writer Nicolas D. Villarreal for a discussion on the thought of Louis Althusser, and how to navigate the political and ideological problems of the petty bourgeoisie. We begin with a discussion into whether professionals qualify as a class and what their precise function is for the perpetuation of the bourgeois state. Villarreal takes the view that professionals do not constitute a class but that they rather play an ideological function. This conversation clarifie...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 113
My guest Michael A. McCarthy joins me to discuss his critique of "class abstractionism" or the tendency to theorize the working class in ways that result in vulgar and reductive conclusions. While McCarthy directs his critique to Vivek Chibber and his work The Class Matrix, we also discuss class abstractionism more broadly and how it appears on today's left. We speculate on ways to better theorize class while remaining critical of left-liberal identity politics. McCarthy, along with co-author Ma...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 112
I have invited Chris Cutrone onto the show for a critical debate and discussion on our differences regarding Marxism in America, imperialism, interpretations of Nietzsche and the meaning of the left. Chris Cutrone is not someone that I agree with in matters of Marxism, but we have talked past each other for several years now and we have decided to talk out our differences directly, without a third party mediator. One of my objectives in this discussion is to model the type of public debate that ...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 111
Please welcome Jacques Rancière to the Emancipations podcast. In the unlikely event you are not aware of the work of Jacques Rancière, he is seemingly impossible to classify as a thinker. He emerges from the May 68 moment, a student of Althusser who broke from his teacher and went on to develop some of the most uniquely inspiring works on emancipatory politics, aesthetics and most interestingly, he wrote a series of works on proletarian intellectuals in the 19th century. I ask Jacques Rancière w...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 110
We are joined by Marxist philosophers Vanessa Wills and Daniel Tutt for a discussion moderated by Sam Greenhouse. This in-person podcast event delves into the philosophy of Marx and how Marx's thought relates to the ongoing quest for freedom in today’s world. We discuss Marx's Ethical Vision, Vanessa's important new book on Marx . Please join us on Patreon ( https://www.patreon.com/c/torsiongroups ) to support our efforts....
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 56 min•Ep. 109
We welcome Branko Milanović for a discussion on inequality and Marxism and his latest book Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War . A sweeping and original history of how economists across two centuries have thought about inequality, told through portraits of six key figures. Branko Milanovic obtained his Ph.D. in economics (1987) from the University of Belgrade with a dissertation on income inequality in Yugoslavia. He served as lead economist in the World ...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 108
We are joined by Dr. Gerald Horne for a discussion on the meaning of the American Revolution and his extensive scholarship on re-assessing 1776 as a "counterrevoluton." At the heart of this discussion is the political and practical question for socialist politics in our time, namely: what is salvageable from 1776, and what is not? How do we read history from a materialist point of view? Dr. Horne's scholarship traces the social forces that brought about the rebellion of 1776 back farther than mo...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 107
We turn to a study group on Domenico Losurdo's Class Struggle: A Political and Philosophical History, a crucial text for understanding class struggle within Marx and Engels’ thought that challenges populist understandings of class struggle and seriously incorporates gender, race, and post-colonial thought within the framework of class struggle. If you are interested in joining, we encourage you to support our efforts by becoming a paid patron if you can swing it, although that is not required ( ...
Nov 20, 2024•2 hr 14 min•Ep. 106
A new interview with Henry Holland from Nietzsche POParts, a recently-founded Swiss magazine dedicated to debating Nietzsche's relevance today—essayistic yet grounded in the latest scholarship. Henry interviewed me on my book How to Read Like a Parasite ( https://a.co/d/3RxOrXO) . A meticulous reader and a careful scholar, Henry asks very intelligent questions that reflect a deep immersion into my book. It's clear that he had not only read the book but he was challenged by it. If you feel so inc...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 105
We are joined by philosopher and Marxist intellectual Gabriel Rockhill to discuss the relevance and importance of the recently translated work, Western Marxism (Monthly Review Press, 2024) by Domenico Losurdo. In this discussion, we analyze Losurdo's book with a focus on extracting the most seminal insights and lessons from the text. We discuss the various Western Marxist thinkers that are critiqued in the text, from Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Max Horkheimer, to Theodor Adorno and others. W...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 104
We welcome Lacanian philosopher Samo Tomšič for a presentation and discussion on Lacan's relationship to structuralism and politics. We center this discussion around Seminar XVI, "From an Other to the Other" where we witness a shift in Lacan’s structuralism, indicated in the very seminar title: from an Other (symbolic order) to the other (enjoyment). It is not unimportant that Lacan's sole thorough engagement with Marx appears precisely in this context, an engagement that can, and probably shoul...
Oct 22, 2024•2 hr 44 min•Ep. 103
We welcome philosopher Christopher Satoor for a discussion on the philosophy of Schelling, the great German idealist. We will focus our conversation on two Marxist critiques of Schelling in Lukács' The Destruction of Reason, to Engels' critique of Schelling from his notes on attending Schelling's lectures as a younger student. Christopher Satoor is an expert in German idealism and a strident Schellingian, so this conversation is sure to be of interest! Get access to the readings for this discuss...
Oct 22, 2024•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 102
2011 witnessed a resurgence of protest movements from the Movement of the Squares, Occupy Wall Street, to the Arab Spring. These events propelled Marxist intellectuals Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou into the limelight, resulting in a surge in their popularity. But was the precondition of their popularity based on the absence of anti-imperialism in their work? In this study group, we examine Losurdo's criticism of Žižek and Badiou regarding how they understand existing state socialism, how they th...
Oct 18, 2024•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 101
We discuss Part IV: "The Triumph and Death of Western Marxism" with particular focus on the work of Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism and On Revolution. We discuss Losurdo's analysis of "recognition" from Hegel and how revolution is theorized as recognition in Marx and Engels and how subsequent liberal theories of revolution in Arendt and Nietzschean theories of Foucault promote what Losurdo sees as the "death" of Western Marxism.
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 100
We welcome Lacanian scholar Robert Beshara back to the show to discuss his new book A Psychoanalytic Biography of Ye: The Legacy of Unconditional Love. It particularly focuses on the 5-year period from 2016 to 2021 (the Shaky-Ass Years) in an effort to think psychoanalytically about Ye's complex subjectivity, his struggle with manic-depression, the thin line between the personal and the political when it comes to celebrity culture, and, of course, his aesthetic productions – be they in the form ...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 99
We examine Losurdo's criticism of western Marxism in relation to anticolonial revolution following the Second World War. We discuss Walter Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History," Max Horkheimer's Authoritarian State, Althusser's antihumanist turn, Sartre's Critique of Dialectical Reason, Adorno's Nietzschean pessimism, and Tronti's workerism. We discuss how Losurdo pinpoints an aversion to the anticolonial revolution in the Marxist theories that are generated by these thinkers. We disc...
Oct 04, 2024•2 hr 3 min•Ep. 98
In our second session, we discuss Domenico Losurdo's theory of the birth of Western Marxism as a response to the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. We begin with a few remarks on the Marxist theory of intellectuals and power, particularly how imperialism fragments the intellectual in relationship to the working class. We then discuss Losurdo's arguments about how western and eastern Marxism begin to take form and contrast one another in terms of the national struggle, state th...
Sep 28, 2024•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 97
We are discussing Domenico Losurdo's newly translated work, Western Marxism: How It Was Born, How It Died, How It Can Be Reborn in a public study group. Our aim is to learn the practical challenges facing Marxist politics in our time through a close reading method. Each session begins with a brief talk on the salient themes and concepts and then proceeds to group discussion. Order the book from the Monthly Review . Learn more about how to get involved and support us at ( https://www.patreon.com/...
Sep 25, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Ep. 96
We are joined by Aymeric Monville, author of Neocapitalism According to Michel Clouscard and publisher of Delga Editions to discuss the work of French Marxist philosopher Michel Clouscard. In this interview, we discuss Clouscard's thought, his major works, concepts and ideas. Michel Clouscard was a prominent French Marxist philosopher whose work aimed to reveal the collusion between capitalism and French theory, represented by thinkers ranging from Lévi-Strauss, Lacan to Deleuze, constructing hi...
Sep 19, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 95
We are joined by philosopher Stuart Blaney to discuss the thought of Jacques Rancière, his work on 19th century worker autodidacts and his theories of emancipation, aesthetics and equality. This conversation is based around a forthcoming book by Stuart Blaney that is entitled, Equality and Freedom in Rancière and Foucault with Bloomsbury Books. Please join our Patreon community to get early access to our interviews and seminars (https://www.patreon.com/torsiongroups)....
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 94
